Mitchell falsely suggested Giuliani "decided to skip all of the early primaries"

Summary: Apparently referring to Rudy Giuliani, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell asked: "[H]ypothetically, if you were a former New York mayor, a Republican who decided to skip all of the early primaries and just stay and wait for Florida, is that a good strategy?" In fact, Giuliani spent considerable time and money competing in New Hampshire and also had a campaign operation in Iowa.

On the January 28 edition of MSNBC Live, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, apparently referring to Rudy Giuliani, asked Republican National Committee chair Mike Duncan, "[H]ypothetically, if you were a former New York mayor, a Republican who decided to skip all of the early primaries and just stay and wait for Florida, is that a good strategy?" In fact, although numerous media figures have asserted that Giuliani skipped Iowa, New Hampshire, or both, Giuliani spent considerable time and money competing in New Hampshire and, according to reports, had made "20 stops" in Iowa, and maintained 12 paid staffers in two offices there.

Indeed, on January 25, when MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski said of Giuliani's early-state strategy, "he didn't play in them, he didn't try in them, and he didn't win in them," NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert said in response: "Well, he spent several million dollars in New Hampshire" and held "[a] hundred events." Russert continued: "And it seems as if he would go into a state, you know, he'd say, 'Iowa is important,' he'd try it out. When it wasn't working ... 'I'm not going to play here I'm going someplace else.' ... And people said, 'Wait a minute, what is this?' "

Additionally, Giuliani himself has denied that his strategy was to skip the early states. On the January 8 edition of NBC's Today, co-host Matt Lauer asked Giuliani: "Is that the strategy? You kind of bypass Iowa and New Hampshire and wait for Florida and New York and California?" Giuliani replied: "No, I wouldn't put it that way. What I would say is, we put a lot of time and attention into some of the states that are coming up later, like Florida. We've actually spent the most time in New Hampshire and then Florida is right behind that."

From the 1 p.m. ET hour of the January 28 edition of MSNBC Live:

MITCHELL: Now I know you don't want to talk about individual candidates, but hypothetically, if you were a former New York mayor, a Republican who decided to skip all of the early primaries and just stay and wait for Florida, is that a good strategy? Would you recommend that to a future candidate?

From the January 25 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

BRZEZINSKI: But don't you think people looked at what happened in the other states as well? I mean, I know you don't think so. I heard you say that on the air, that people here in Florida are not looking at what's happening in the other states. But, you know, he just didn't -- I mean, he didn't play in them, he didn't try in them, and he didn't win in them.

RUSSERT: Well, Mika, he spent several million dollars in New Hampshire --

BRZEZINSKI: That's true.

RUSSERT: -- and he was up there -- he's been --

BRZEZINSKI: That's true.

JOE SCARBOROUGH (co-host): A hundred --

RUSSERT: A hundred events.

SCARBOROUGH: -- events. Yeah.

BRZEZINSKI: He did spend.

RUSSERT: And it seems as if he would go into a state, you know, he'd say, "Iowa is important," he'd try it out. When it wasn't working --

BRZEZINSKI: Pull out.

RUSSERT: "I'm not going to play here; I'm going someplace else."

BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

BRZEZINSKI: No, he did spend in New Hampshire.

RUSSERT: And people said, "Wait a minute, what is this?"

—R.C.